


Non-Combat, Non-Violent, Team Bonding Exercises!

by ayuwensayk, TheBlackDress



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2017-11-26 12:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/650716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayuwensayk/pseuds/ayuwensayk, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlackDress/pseuds/TheBlackDress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine you OTP is made to play twister as a bonding exercise. Imagine how it started. Imagine that this was the reason they grew so close.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Decision

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Twister](https://archiveofourown.org/works/633077) by [TheBlackDress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlackDress/pseuds/TheBlackDress). 



> I don't know why but I like to write prologues. So this is a prologue for Twister written by TheBlackDress. Thank-you for allowing me to play with your story!

It’s Clint who decides that they all need to participate in some non-combat team bonding. Tony doesn’t agree, but he doesn’t disagree either, he just has better things to do than play games with heroes and former spies who don’t even like him.

It’s been a year since Loki, leading the Chitari had attacked New York and the team have all but moved into the tower. Clint and Natasha still have rooms back at SHIELD, but Bruce seems to rather enjoy the freedom that comes with the move. Steve took a little longer to accept the offer but only because for a while there, after New York, he was still coming to terms with this new world and his life within it. They don’t really see Tony so much, well Steve doesn’t anyway, but Bruce and Tony often conduct weird experiments together.

This idea for team bonding, that doesn’t involve weapons or fighting of any kind, comes after one of the smaller operations SHIELD has the team working on these days; since no bigger threats come to light. Other than the frequent Doom bot attacks that had become routine and were easily defeated, life for the Avengers is fairly quiet, thus the small operations SHIELD has assigned to them.

They all meet in the kitchen on the Helicarrier after their debrief and medical checks - which they all dislike except for Thor who enjoys the hand full of strawberry drop lollies he always gets afterwards – for lunch before heading back to ground. When Coulson walks into the room it’s dead quite, not one member of the team makes any noise; not even as they chew on the assorted sandwiches that they had found in the fridge. Weirder still they all sit apart and aren’t even looking at each other; Clint and Natasha being the exception, of course, for having already known each other for years.

“Okay guys what’s going on?” Coulson asks stepping into the middle of the oddest sight.

“Nothin’… Sir,” Clint replies, mouth full of the steak sandwich he’s shovelling down his throat.

“Right, because it’s typical for a team to sit around and ignore one another. Stark what did you do?” Coulson scrutinizes Tony were he sits at the table; tablet in one hand and a cup of steaming coffee in the other.

“Why is it suddenly always my fault when something goes wrong?” Tony asks sarcastically and a little frustrated.

“Because usually when something goes wrong, it is your fault.”

“Umm actually it’s usually Reed’s fault,” Tony answers pulling up graphs on his tablet and turning it towards Coulson continuing, “See this right here, I had JARVIS run the statistics and display all the times that Reed and myself have made errors in these charts. And as you can see from this pie chart and this column graph here, it is usually Reed’s fault when something goes wrong.”

Coulson’s incredulous look that he shoots Tony’s way has him requesting JARVIS to corroborate his claims. _“I am afraid the data speaks for itself here Agent Coulson; Dr. Reed does tend to generate more errors than Mr Stark does.”_

Coulson signs and rubes at his eyes, then he looks up and at each of the Avengers as he says “Well does someone want to explain to me why you are all ignoring each other or do I need to tazer it out of you?”

“No really man… we’re all cool,” Clint mumbles back around the remains of his lunch, even as he reaches for the sandwich on the plate in front of Tony, who doesn’t notice or doesn’t care as he has gone back to what he was previously working on.

“Okay, look guys Fury has been observing the team and believe that it would do you all some good if you participated in some team bonding exercisers to become more acquainted and comfortable with each other,” Coulson explains in a firm tone that has even Tony Stark complying.

“Agent Coulson, we already participate in team bonding,” Steve speaks up, “we all join in on sports games whenever we have the time, not to mention all the training exercisers that the SHIELD special coaches, personal trainers and I design for the team, and the actual training that we all partake in. Is that not enough?”

“Fury and I both think you all need to bond by doing something more relaxing, like watching a movie or playing a board game, something along those lines,” Coulson responds.

“We shall bond over a feast. Sharing a meal together is non-violent bonding in Midgard, is it not?” Thor bellowed because large amounts of food always seem to make the Thunder God happy.

“Thor, we’re already eating our lunch together and no real bonding is happening,” Natasha explains as she downs the cup of tea she has been nursing since Coulson entered the kitchen.

That’s when Clint stands up from his seat, back straight and chin up he looks straight ahead and voices his suggestion, “We should play twister!” For Clint this wasn’t a suggestion but a decision that he has just made for the whole team.

There was a groan of discontent from where Tony is sitting but a hum of approval as Coulson agreed. “That is a good idea Agent, nice choice. I expect you all to participate in this bonding exercise or…”

“… You will not hesitate to tazer us and leave us drooling into the carpet while you watch Super Nanny,” Tony interrupts sarcastically.

“Exactly Stark, so I expect you, all of you, to partake in this exercise, understood!” And Coulson turns and leaves the room to inform Fury of the new development.

“This will be so fun, guys. I haven’t played twister in years,” Clint practically cries, his excitement uncontainable.

“I don’t think I should play,” Bruce chimes in from the couch in the corner of the room.

“Dude you’ll be fine. Twister is non-violent and fun. I swear on Stark’s life…”

“Hey!”                                                  

“…that it will go off without a hitch. You’ll have so much fun.” Bruce’s concerned look doesn’t leave his face so Clint adds, “Man if you’re really that worried about Hulking out you can spin the dial, okay.” Bruce seems to relax back into the couch at the suggestion and goes back to reading his science journal article.

“What is this Twister of which you speak so highly about, Eye of Hawk?” Thor asks.

“Yeah, I don’t understand how a game about Twisters could be fun Clint,” Steve supplies.

Tony lets out a short throaty laugh at Steve’s confusion as he stands up from his spot at the table; and collecting his belongings announces, “I don’t play games,” and walks out of the Helicarrier’s kitchen.

“The Man of Iron does not like fun,” Thor states looking at the spot Tony just vacated

“His loss my friend,” Clint says, “Twister is a great game.”

 

 


	2. The Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the bonding begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you TheBlackDress for all your wonderful help for adding your brilliant ideas.

Two nights later Coulson is at Stark Tower equipping the Avengers with the game of Twister. Thor’s excitement for the game to begin is comparable only to Clint’s as they wait in the lounge for Natasha, who has been sent down to collect Tony from his lab. Steve, still confused about the aim of the game, decides to stand with Bruce and observe the first round, to learn the rules as they play.

The Twister mat is laid out on the floor in the middle of the room; they had to move the couches and coffee table to the walls to provide extra space for any awkward flailing. Clint was defiantly hoping for some flailing. He was an assassin and spent 90% of his time contorted into strange positions to remain undetected behind enemy lines. In other words, he was an expert and so naturally expected to win.

“Can we not begin the game of twisting without the Man of Iron?” Thor asks, irritated from having to wait so long. He sits down on the couch and pulls out a handful of strawberry drop lollies out of his pocket, bringing one to his mouth every few seconds to eat while they wait. Of everyone in the tower, Thor is the most eager to play this new game.

“We could, but Coulson wants Tony to participate as well,” Clint explains as he flops down onto the couch next to the god and eyes the small mound of lollies.

Ten minutes later Thor’s impatience ends when Natasha pushes Tony into the room.

“I told you, I don’t play kid games okay. I’m very busy right now; I have a lot of work to do,” Tony says as he spots the polka dot mat in the middle of his lounge and signs. “No really guys I can’t be doing this, I need to finish my work.”

“Stark so help me, if you do not get on this mat and bond with your team…”

“Ooh Coulson, you make it sound so kinky,” Tony winks.

Bruce, desperate to deviation in conversation, speaks up from the other side of the mat, “Tony, you get to go first…”

A growl of frustration escapes Tony as he says, “Is this really necessary? I have important work to do. I’ll call Pepper, she can vouch for me!”

“Actually, Pepper called me this afternoon,” Natasha cuts in smoothly, “And she wants you to participate,” she explains and pushes Tony lightly in the shoulder.

“She called me today as well, says she thinks this will do you good. Learn to be a team player and all.” Coulson verified, “So there is no getting out of this Stark.”

“How did Pepper even know this was happening?”

“You told her last night Tony. Remember you were grouchy about medical checks and then you started in on Twister?” Steve prompted from next to Bruce.

“Damn medical checks, they’re always telling me there’s something wrong.”

“Dude, that’s because there always is something wrong,” Clint provides.

“Thank you Barton; I can always just have JARVIS scan for injuries, which consequently never come back as bad as SHIELD checks.”

“I quite enjoy those medical checks we must partake in after battle,” Thor cuts in suddenly, smiling wildly. Clint rolls his eyes.

“Thor, you just enjoy the strawberry lollies you steal,” Clint says as he edges closer to the Asgardian.

“I do not steal these little red delicacies’ as the good Doctor allows me a small handful after every check-up,” Thor explains as he pops another of the red lollies in his mouth.

“Yeah, but you take the whole bowl Thor, every time.” And while he’s distracted thinking that over Clint snaps his hand at the lollies in Thor’s hands and is rewarded with three of them. Thor glares at him as he lobs all three in his mouth, a cheeky smirk on his face.

“Alright Tony, left hand blue” Bruce calls from his place on the other side of the mat. Another groan and an eye roll from Tony earns him another friendly shove from Natasha, and so he places his left hand on a blue circle.

 

The first round only lasts five minutes because Thor falls on top of Clint as he reaches for another lolly and the Clint demands to restart the game on the grounds of foul play. Clint wanted to see flailing; he just didn’t expect to be doing the flailing.

Round two starts after a short break that has Natasha follow Tony to the bathroom and back just to make sure he doesn’t lock himself in his lab.

Steve was eager to try his hand at the game, “I think this will be good for us actually; seems like a lot of fun,” He says as he takes his turn first placing his right foot in the middle of the green row of circles facing Bruce.

Three minutes in and Thor stands easily back to back with Steve, his right foot on green and left foot on yellow. Clint is bent down next to him with his right foot on the red and his right hand on blue. Natasha stands in front of Clint with her left foot on the yellow circle next Steve’s left foot on the green, her right foot on red. With Steve’s left foot on blue one circle closer to the edge of the mat where Bruce and Coulson stood with the dial. Coulson has demanded that they all play the game properly the second time around; so they all try their best to stay out of each other’s way to keep the game going for as long as possible.

Tony is on the mat right foot on green facing Bruce waiting for his second position to be announced, “Tony, left hand blue,” Bruce calls. Tony bends over in front of Steve as he places his right hand on the blue circle at the top of the mat; and wiggled his butt at Steve as he relaxes into his new position.

“Tony can you please stop that and just stand nicely,” Steve asks.

“Come on Steve, where’s the fun in that? Anyway if I stand up I loss the game; and if I’m playing I may as well play to win.”

“Fine, just don’t…wiggle,” Steve sighs, trying to avert his eyes from Tony’s wiggling arse.

 

As the game continues Clint ends up twisted with Thor once again - with Thor’s right foot on a blue dot and Clint’s left foot on the blue dot his right hand use to be on as it now stretched under Thor’s leg to touch a yellow dot - but was facing Natasha; who remains untwisted with the others but has both feet on red circles now, hands on her hips. Tony has his left foot on the blue circle that his left hand had previously occupied and moves his hand to the yellow dot behind him so that he’s leaning back into Steve’s space as he has to lean forward to place his right hand on the green dot next to his foot.

Bruce turns to Natasha, “right hand yellow, Nat,” He says, and she does the smart thing, by crouching down and placing her right hand on the yellow dot her foot use to be on. Steve’s next turn is the beginning of the end as Bruce calls his left hand to be placed on the last yellow circle on the mat.

Steve looks at the mat around him and gives a pained sign asking, “Tony could you please move your hand to the yellow circle between your feet, so I can have this one?”

“No can do Capsical, that would disqualify me from the game. Anyway the aim of Twister is to become _twisted_ with each other.”

“Okay, but Tony this could get… awkward.”

“It will only be awkward if you make it awkward Steve.” Tony retorts.

Steve signs and leans over Tony, cheeks flushing pink, to place his hand flat on the yellow dot at his feet.

“Wow! Steve, this is the best view I’ve had all day,” Tony laughs, leaning his head back while lifting up his chest, “Having a 69-er with Captain America. I think this is the best day ever. JARVIS, I hope you’re recording all this.” Tony continues, still laughing as Steve tries to shift into a less awkward position. It doesn’t work, but he can feel Tony’s hot breathe on his thighs.

“Of course Sir,” JARVIS pips in from nowhere.

“Coulson, can I forfeit?” Steve asks, looking up at the agent and Bruce.

“Steve I realise that this position is uncomfortable for you – believe me I would hate it too – but if you leave you’ll disqualify everyone else as well,” Coulson sighs, “you need to hold it for as long as possible and work as a team. That’s this week’s lesson about teamwork I suppose. Dealing with personal discomfort for the sake of everyone else.”

“Yeah Steve _hold it_ for as _long_ as possible,” Tony says sarcastically still laughing at their current predicament. “If you leave I’ll be much less comfortable and that just isn’t part of team work,” he teases. Tony’s breath travels higher up Steve’s thighs as he moves his head from side to side to mess with Steve a little longer. Steve feels goose bumps rise on his legs as his pants tightened around his crouch and Tony continues to breathe on him, apparently oblivious.

Steve tries to keep still for the next few minutes until Bruce calls for Tony’s turn, “right hand green Tony.”

The only green dot left was the one between Steve and Thor; Tony knows it will be a stretch for him to reach it around Steve but of course he tries anyway. Moving his hand to the green circle was difficult with the other man leaning over the top of him, and as Tony reaches between Steve’s legs he accidently hit his right knee. Unprepared for the punch to his knee Steve drops both his knees to mat with an “oof” causing Tony to collapse onto the mat under him and ending the game. Tony lies between Steve’s knees then, a small smirk spreading across his face as the Soldier, his face flushed, stands up.

Straightening himself out and not looking anyone in the eye, Steve says, “I think that’s enough for today,” and he leaves the room.

“The Captain is distressed because he couldn’t win this battle between friends,” Thor states, but it sounds more like a question.

“No Thor I don’t think that is the reason Steve is distressed,” Natasha replies, shooting Tony an irritated look.

Still lying on the mat, Tony turns to look up at the assassin with an innocent look. “What?” he asks, “I didn’t do anything. I was just having a little fun. You wanted me to play this stupid game, so I played the game.”

“Do you always have to turn everything sexual, Stark? You know Steve isn’t used to it, cut him some slack next time,” Coulson chimes in, arms crossed and expression dark. Today was just not Tony’s day.

“Whatever,” He replies, pushing himself from the carpet and brushing his hands absentmindedly “I have work to do,” Tony says annoyed leaving the room to retreat back downstairs. A second later Bruce hands Clint the Twister dial and goes to follow.

“I have some things to finish as well, but this was fun,” Bruce smiles, and then walks back to his own labs.

“Come now Coulson, we must make our way back to SHIELD, I would like to attain some more of those red delicacies before I head back to Asgard,” Thor says and he places a hand on Coulson’s shoulder.

“I must head over as well; Fury said there was something he wanted to discuss with me, so I’ll grab a ride with you,” Natasha joins them over at the elevator.

“So I’m on clean up?” Clint yells to them, and as Coulson steps into the elevator he turns and smiles at Clint while Thor waves him off, Natasha standing behind them, leaving Clint to pack away the game and move the room back to its original set up.

“This sucks,” He tells the empty room, and kicks at the twister mat on the floor.

 

 


	3. An Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone seems to have something to complain to Tony about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you TheBlackDress for reading through this chapter and fixing it also.

“Stark!” It’s Fury who calls first, of course it is. It is about four hours after the game of Twister and Tony has only left his lab once since to get a cup of coffee. “What did you do to Captain America? I have been hearing things that I don’t like the sound of.”

“I haven’t done anything to the old boy.”

“Really; than what’s this I’m hearing about you sabotaging the team bonding exercise earlier today by embarrassing the Captain?”

“Sabotaging? I didn’t sabotage anything; you wanted me to bond so I bonded. And Steve is fine, no harm done. It was fun while it lasted but I’m glad it’s over and now I have some real work to complete, so if you’re done…”

Fury interrupts Tony with a clearly frustrated tone over the line, “Stark! Look I have more important things to do with my time than play mediator to a bunch of overgrown children playing superhero! You better not be uncooperative next time or…”

“Next time? Fury really we tried it out, it didn’t work, let’s move on. I’m sure the others have more vital things to attend to instead of playing children’s games.”

“Stark this bonding exercise is going to be a weekly thing and if I hear that you are being difficult, so help me God, I will throw you to the dogs, do you understand!” but before Tony can get a word in Fury ends the phone call with, “Good! And apologise to Steve,” And then the line goes dead. Tony sits irritated for a few seconds cursing Coulson or Natasha, or whomever it was who told Fury about the game and then goes back to work completely forgetting about the whole situation.

Six hours after Twister:

Tony is hard at work when JARVIS makes him aware of another incoming call, this one coming from Pepper.

“Pep, hey what’s up? Why are you calling so late? It is late right? I don’t know I haven’t been checking the time, it’s probably not late…”

“Tony,” Comes Pepper’s somewhat exhausted yet still amused tone of voice which has Tony stop his rambling just long enough for her to start.

“Tony it is late, it’s 11pm…”

“Well why are you calling me so late? Wait 11pm that can’t be right. JARVIS is that right?”

“Yes Sir, the time is currently 11pm. Or more accurately 10:58pm.”

“Right, okay, well that’s not that late. Pepper why are you calling me at 10:58pm? Shouldn’t you be in bed? I could’ve been in bed, I could’ve been asleep, I could’ve been doing that blonde who works down at reception.”

“Tony!” She yells down the line.

“Yeah Pep?” The genius asks making her aware that she had his attention and then abruptly shuts his mouth.

“You aren’t in bed Tony and you’re not sleeping, and about that blonde down at reception she was fired a month ago. So I know for a fact that you are not doing any of those things; which only leaves one possibility, work.”

“You know me to well, Pep.”

“I should. I’ve only been working for you for over a decade. Now Tony, I’m coming round tomorrow...”

“Miss me that much, huh?”

Ignoring his jibe Pepper continues, “I have files you need to sign. I would have come today if not for the last minute meeting that went for way to long. Also, I heard about what happened today and I can’t say I’m surprised with your actions but I am a little irritated-”

Tony interrupts her than, “How and who? Where are you getting your information from Pep? Tell me so I can cut the cancer out.”

“Tony, I have my sources. Actually I have many sources and they all provided me with the same information. You’re a grown man Tony, you don’t need to be acting like a horny teenager.”

“I didn’t even do anything! And why is everyone making a big deal out of it, it’s nothing, it was just a bit of fun and last time I checked fun was not illegal.”

“Your kind of fun is. Please be a little more corporative, you are a part of a team now. And I hope that you’ve apologised to Steve for making him feel uncomfortable.”

“Look Pepper, I’ve already had a talking to from Fury who said the same thing and Steve is fine, he didn’t even understand half of what I said anyway.”

“It doesn’t hurt to apologise Tony.”

“Pepper, I’ve sorted it out; he was just embarrassed because of the position we were in. Everything else, everything that should have embarrassed him, just went straight over his head, he’s fine, okay.”

“Alright fine, but I’ll be speaking with him tomorrow. I’ll be around early in the morning, so be up.”

“Okay Pep, I will see you tomorrow.”

“Get some sleep please Tony; we also have that meeting with the Japanese tomorrow at noon.”

“Yeah Pep, okay,” By this time Tony’s only half listening as he tinkers with the work in front of him.

“And another thing, lay off all the coffee alright, the amount you drink cannot be good for you.”

“Sure Pepper.”

“Goodnight Tony,” And Pepper ends the call.

Tony has a feeling that everyone will have words with him about the game of Twister. Stupid Steve! Why can’t he just loosen up a little bit and have some fun.

 

Three hours earlier:

Tony’s been in his lab for about two or three hours after the game finished when he goes to pour himself some coffee from the pot in the corner kitchenette of the lab. He swears black and blue when he notices the pot is empty, and great now he has to go all the way up to the kitchen to get himself a cup. “JARVIS, save what I have done, I will be back in a minute,” He says as he steps into the elevator.

“Of course Mr Stark,” The AI obeyed.

Tony walks into the kitchen and doesn’t take any notice of the person sitting at the table until he turns around waiting for the coffee machine to work its magic.

“Oh, hey,” He says when he notices Steve staring at him. However, when he meet Steve’s eyes the Soldier hastily looks back down at the book open in front of him. “What’s wrong with you?” Tony asks.

“Umm… nothing, nothing’s wrong. Why do ask?”

“Because you’re being weird.”

“I’m not being weird Tony, I’m just reading.”

“Yeah, sure, okay; tell me something Steve, since when does Captain America not look someone in the eye when he speaks to them?” That has Steve looking up at Tony and his cheeks flush pink before he looks back down again. “See; what’s happening in that old frozen brain of yours?” Tony asks, and when Steve blushes further Tony finds himself continuing, “Wait, this doesn’t have anything to do with the Twister bonding thing does it?”

“Tony I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, it’s just the position we were in and you were saying things and you kept breathing on me and I could feel it and then you hit my knee and I wasn’t expecting that and…”

“Hey, hey Steve slow down before you hurt yourself, geez. It’s okay, so you got hard, so what, it happens to the best of us, it’s understandable, I mean I know I’m attractive.”

“But Tony, I fell on top of you… on your face, I…” Steve is beetroot red by this point and it’s all Tony can do not to be amused by Steve’s embarrassment.

Leaning against the bench with his arms crossed and a small smirk playing at his lips Tony says “Steve, seriously you’re being ridiculous, it’s fine, I’m fine, I wasn’t traumatised and really it’s not like that was the first time I had some guys junk in my face.”

Steve looks up at him, confusion still present on his face with the blush from moments before.

“Okay listen, and listen good because I don’t like repeating myself,” Tony continues, “I’m sorry I embarrassed you, I’ll be serious next time alright; no more sexual comments.”

Steve doesn't answer, instead continues to look confused. Slightly unsure of what to do, Tony claps his hands together, “Okay, well great, good chatting with you,” and then he turns around to grab his coffee and sprint back to his lab, when Steve suddenly finds his voice.

“Tony?”

“Yeah?” he questions as he spins back to face Steve.

Steve’s flush is almost gone now when he asks, “What is 69ing?” This time Tony can’t help but laugh shaking his head and heads out of the kitchen leaving Steve more confused than he was before.

He is still laughing when he re-enters his labs.

 

 

 

 


	4. A Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve thinks something is up.

The morning of the next game, a week later, Steve sits at the kitchen table sketching his view of the New York skyline as the morning sun fills the room. His expression is sombre, yet somewhat confused. When Thor enters the kitchen he almost misses Steve as his own energetic bouncing propels him towards the fridge to drink straight from a carton of milk.

"Thor, it's unhealthy to drink straight from the carton," Steve chides gently, not looking up from his drawing. “I’m certain we have glasses somewhere,” He says in mock consideration.

Whipping around and ignoring Steve's suggestion, Thor bounds over to the table smiling. "I did not see you there Captain! How are you this morning?"

"I'm well thank you Thor. Why are you so happy today?"

“Tis the day of more twisting Captain and I am most eager to begin,” Yet Thor seems slightly shifty as well but Steve chalks that up to the excitement the god was displaying.

“You do realise that there are another 9 or so hours until then, right.”

“Indeed so, but that is not a reason for one to be unpleased. Are you not pleased, you seem rather distracted?” Thor says and Steve shrugs.

“Oh no, I’m just thinking is all.”

“You seem to be thinking rather intensely,” Thor presses, “Is it nothing I could assist you with Captain?”

"Umm no, it's okay..." Steve looks up and has a moment of contemplation. "Actually, maybe you would know," He decides. Thor sits at the table beside him and waits for Steve to continue. “Tony said something last week after the team bonding and it has left me slightly confused. I would have easily forgotten about it but Tony found my ignorance regarding the subject to be extremely funny, so I can’t help but feel that I’m missing something vital to modern life.”

“What did the Man of Iron say that is mystifying you so?” Thor asks. Steve pauses for a moment, then asks the God, “You wouldn’t happen to know what 69ing is, would you?”

“69ing,” Thor repeats, rolling the word in his mouth as if saying it will help decipher its meaning. After a moment he shakes his head and says, "I’m sorry Captain, I do not have any knowledge of such a word."

“It’s okay Thor, it’s probably nothing, but thank you all the same.”

“It is my pleasure Captain! Perhaps we may ask another of the team, regarding this mystery. I am very interested in the seemingly significance of this reference as well.”

"That's a good idea Thor," Steve agrees, leaving his sketches on the table and following the god out of the kitchen in search of another Avenger who may be able to help them understand Tony's comment.

They come across Clint first while he’s playing an archery game on x-box in the main lounge. He always seems to be flustered when playing because most of the time he misses the digital targets, which lead him to claim that the game is rigid and the only reason he plays is for target practice. Steve has a sneaking suspicion that Clint is actually determined to win the game to prove that he is the best archer around, rigged game or not. When they walk into the lounge Clint is most definitely not proving his archery abilities, but is instead demonstrating his swearing skills at the screen.

“Ah come on, that was a fucking bullseye! God damn it!”

“Why do you wish me to damn it, Eye of Hawk?" Thor asks as a startled Clint turns to face them.

"I don't, it's just an expression. This game is so rigged its not even funny," Clint says as he pauses the game and turns on the couch to look at them. "What are you guys doing this morning?"

“We were actually looking for you,” Steve says.

“Oh really, why’s that” Clint asks curiously.

“The Man of Iron made a comment towards the Captain here and we are both confused about it. We believe it to hold some sort of importance to modern life here on Midgard.”

“Well” Steve cuts in, “Thor and I were hoping that you could explain it to us.”

“Yeah sure, shoot,” Clint says, smiling at his own marksman pun.

“Okay, what does 69ing mean?” Steve asks straight face and still confused.

Clint just stares at them wide eyed and a small smirk forms on his face, “Umm, I’m sorry, what?”

“I believe 69 is a number, so is it mathematical?” Thor asks curiously. Clint snorts puts down the TV remote before standing up off the couch to talk with them.

“Umm, I guess you could… sort of say that.”

“Oh, how is that?” Asks Steve noticing Clint seems a little tongue-tied yet very amused.

"Well, you see," The archer starts, trying not to laugh, "Uhh...well, it umm, it involves two people and they uhh… well you know when two people love each other. Actually, well, they don't have to love each other. They can be two guys or two girls or a guy and a girl...it's all up to your own uh, preferences, not that I'm judging! I am totally open to anything, it’s just…"

"What Clint is trying to say," Natasha interrupts from the door behind Steve and Thor, much to Clint’s amused appreciation, "Is that it's a position during sexual intercourse where you and your partner both give and receive oral sex at the same time."

There’s a moment of silence, and then Steve's face turns red and Thor lets out a long breath as everything connects in his brain.

"Oh," is all Steve can say, wanting to leave the room. Thor is more enthusiastic, eager to share his own apparent knowledge on the subject.

"Such a position is also used on Asgard, though it goes by a different title! If only I had known, I would have never suffered any confusion!"

"Okay, just avoid the details there buddy because I do not need to know," Clint says loudly, attempting to interrupt Thor's voice as he starts his own story.

“Yeah, I’m not really that concerned anymore Thor, sorry,” Steve agrees.

Natasha is laughing when she turns to Clint “I can’t believe you couldn’t explain that, it’s so simple.”

“I’m not entirely comfortable explaining it for two other dudes, Nat.”

“Whatever,” She says in-between laughing. Steve walks out of the lounge still red in the face with embarrassment and back to the Kitchen to his drawings.

 

It’s one o'clock when they decide on lunch; it’s been a slow day so far and everyone is doing their own thing. Since Steve has spent the day in the kitchen sketching, he puts his things at one end of the bench and decides to make lunch for everyone. After they have eaten they head for the gym to do some sparing, leaving Thor to the cleaning.

 

A few hours later Coulson is at the tower once again, game ready and waiting. Of course Tony isn’t there so Coulson has Natasha hunt down their resident genius. Besides a few irritated remarks in the beginning, the game goes off without a hitch and everyone seems to be having fun, helping keep each other up and in place while not putting each other off with rude comments and sexual innuendos.

Afterwards as Tony’s heading back to his lab Steve catches up him before he can enter the elevator.

“Hey Tony, I just wanted to say thank you for not making any sexual jokes this time. Twister is really very fun when everyone cooperates.”

“Yeah Cap, sure. But just so you know I had a plethora of hilarious jokes that I could have used in that game.”

Cheeks flushing slightly, Steve laughs and gives a little wave as Tony enters the elevator. Why did he wave? That was a ridiculous thing to do. He shakes his head and walks towards the kitchen to where the others have gathered for dinner. Coulson is collecting paperwork from Natasha and Thor is sitting at the table picking at a hand full of strawberry drops lollies.

“Thor, I thought you finished all the candy last week and that you weren’t allowed to take them anymore?" Steve asks looking at the lollies. "In fact I heard that the doctors who do our med checks aren’t ordering them in any longer.”

“Aye Captain, it is sadly true. The doctors are not supplying them any further, which tis a true shame.”

“Then where did those ones come from?” Steve asks.

Thor sits straight in his chair, eyes roaming the room but not hitting eye contact with anyone.

“These are the last few Steven,” He says, eyes looking around the room once more.

Natasha and Coulson aren’t listening as their attention is focused on the paperwork in front of them, but Steve is suspicious of the way Thor is acting. However he ignores it as he begins to cook, Thor is an alien after all. Clint walks in a minute later complaining that he had to fix up the room after Twister again.

“You guys are so lazy. Next time you all get to clean the room, I’m refusing to do it.”

“Barton don’t be a child. Here, I have some paperwork for you,” Coulson says as he holds up a folder.

“You're no fun Coulson.”

“I’m not supposed to be,” Coulson says as he collects his files and prepares to leave.

“You aren’t staying for dinner Agent Coulson?” Steve asks him looking up from the vegetables in the sink.

“No sorry I can’t, I have prior arrangements tonight. Thank you for the invitation though.”

“Not a problem. Have a good night.”

“You too,” He replies as he walks out of the room.

While the food is cooking Steve goes back to his pile off sketches and looks through them. He goes through the pile twice, three times just to make sure they are all there. There are only six now when before there had been 8, he’s sure the two that are missing were the ones Steve had just completed that day.

“Guys, have you seen my sketches?” Steve asks as he searches under the table and all around the kitchen.

“You are holding them, are you not Captain?” Thor responds from his spot at the table.

“Yeah but there is only six here and I had eight.”

“Well this is a very puzzling mystery,” Thor says, unmoving from his place.

“Clint, Nat, you haven't seen them have you?”

They both don’t look up from the paperwork Coulson had given them as they answer simultaneously with a no.

“Where was the last time you saw them?” Thor inquires.

“In here before...well, technically at lunch time before we went down to the gym.”

“And you are most certain you have not moved them at all during the day?”

“No, I’m sure that I would have remembered.”

“Perhaps you should check your private rooms just to be positive.”

“Yeah, you’re right Thor.” The vegetables on the stove start boiling over and Steve goes to check on them. “Maybe after dinner though, I am quite hungry.”

“As am I my friend, as am I.”

Clint makes a noise of approval from where he sits with Natasha at the end of the table.


	5. And Another Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things just don't seem to be clearing up for Steve. And Tony gets blamed for something else.

After dinner Steve spent the next hour looking for his sketches but to no avail. He sits heavily on the couch next to Thor sighing when he decides that they are lost.

“You still cannot find your art Captain?” Thor asks.

“No, it doesn’t seem to be anywhere. I don’t know what happened to them, they were there and then they weren’t.”

“Tis a great mystery indeed.”

Clint, who is on the X-box once again trying his hand at the rigged archery game and mumbling under his breath every time he misses the target, says, “Dude, why don’t you just ask JARVIS?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about him. Thanks Clint.”

“There would be no need to ask the disembodied voice. We shall keep looking.” Thor interrupts as he jumps up from his spot on the couch.

“Don’t be silly Thor,” Clint states not looking away from the TV, “It’d be easier to just ask JARVIS.”

Thor looks as if he wants to say something when Steve stands up and pats him on the shoulder looking up at the ceiling. “JARVIS?” Steve requests.

“Yes Captain?” The AI responds in his proper English accent.

“Did you see what happened to my sketches?” Steve questions.

“Of course I did.”

“Oh great; can you tell me what has happened to them?”

“I am unauthorized to provide you with that information Captain.”

“I’m sorry, why not?”

“Mr Stark has given firm orders not to state what has happened to them.”

“What; why?”

“I am unsure Captain. It would be best if you asked him directly.”

“Yeah I think I’ll do that. Thanks JARVIS.”

“You are most welcome.” At JARVIS’ suggestion Steve goes to find Tony, giving the others a serious look.

“What is Stark up to now?” Clint asks as Thor sits back on the couch happy and calm.

“Clint,” Natasha says from where she has popped up behind startling him. He defiantly didn’t jump and would deny it even against Natasha’s word. She smiles, “Just give up; you’re not going to win this game.”

“I will win Nat, you’ll see. I’m the best goddamn marksman in the world. I’ll win. And when I do I expect you all to grovel at my feet.”

“I don’t grovel Clint,” she says and gives him a wack on the head.

“You don’t but Loki does from what I recall,” Bruce says from behind his book. Thor makes a displeased sound and cast a glare in his direction. “Sorry Thor.” Clint laughs at that and Natasha wacks him upside the head again.

 

When Steve enters the lab Tony is knee deep in circuitry and armour ruins. Music is on but oddly quiet. Steve doesn’t wait for Tony to notice that he has entered the lab before speaking up, “Tony what have you done with my Sketchers?”

Tony swivels around in his chair at the accusation that was voiced from behind him, “Wow Steve nice to see you too, don’t worry there’s no need to knock before entering my space.”

“Tony please just tell me what you did with them,” Steve sighs exhaustedly walking to stand in front of Tony.

“There’s no beating around the bush with you is there; would you believe me if I said that I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Tony says, putting on his most innocent look.

“No. JARVIS already confirmed that you know.”

“That traitor,” Tony teases. He looks towards the ceiling and continues, “I’ll rewrite your code, and I’ll reprogram you into a glorified projector.”

“My sincere apologies Sir,” JARVIS replies.

“Tony there’s no need to involve JARVIS in this; you obviously have them, so please can I have them back?” Steve seems to all but demand.

Tony stands from his chair looks Steve in the eyes and answers “No.”

“No,” Steve says slightly stunned by Tony’s directness. “What do you mean no? They’re mine.”

“I’m sorry, I suppose I didn’t make myself clear enough.” Tony begins with a mock expression. “I mean I can’t give them back to you because I am not the individual who is in possession of them.”

“What? Then who is?”

“So many questions Steve” Tony says exaggeratedly, “Look I can’t tell you alright.”

“Why not?” By now Steve was beginning to feel irritated with the situation, he only wants his sketches back.

“That would breech the Tony Stark/everyone confidentiality agreement.”

“Your what? Tony there is no such thing.”

“There is, actually.”

“What? No, there’s not.”

“And would you know, how?”

“Because there isn’t, it’s stupid and I’ve never even heard of it before.”

“You haven’t heard of thermonuclear astrophysics before either but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And I can tell you that it most assuredly does exist…”

“Tony, I’ve heard of that before.”

“Oh yeah then what is it?”

“Look I’m not playing games with you alright; I just want my stuff back.”

“Course you’re not. As I said before, I don’t have them so I can’t return them and I can’t tell you anything about it.”

“I can make you tell me.”

“You wouldn’t torture me for that.”

“Not physical.”

“JARVIS take note, that’s a verbal threat, I feel threatened.”

“Certainly Sir,” Jarvis replies as Tony smirks at Steve.

“I’m not threatening you Tony.”

“Then how are you planning on getting the information out of me?”

Steve thinks this through for a minute watching Tony’s smirk grow somewhat confidently. He comes out with the first thing that pops into his head “I will wait right here until you become tired of my face and annoying presence that you will tell me anything to be rid of me.” It’s certainly not his best plan, actually now that he thinks it over it’s a horrible plan. His plans back in the 1940’s before the serum were better than this one and they usually left him bated and bruised with Bucky cleaning the blood off his face and washing his clothes. And by the assumed look on Tony’s face he certainly agrees.

“That is a really horrible plan Steve, like really horribly bad. How did you come up with it? I mean shit your Captain America for fuck sake, the man with the plan, you can do better than that. It’s ridiculous, honestly.”

“Tony” Steve sighs again obviously becoming exhausted with the roundabout conversation.

“Look Steve just be patient with this okay, you will eventually understand what’s happening and when you do you will laugh at how ludicrous it all is. I only know because I was at the right place at the right time.”

“Fine, whatever” Steve replies but doesn’t move to leave the lab. After a long moment Tony narrows his eyes and then widens them in realisation.

“Wait, are you seriously gonna stick by that ridiculous plan of yours?” Steve doesn’t reply he just crosses his arms and continues to stand there starring at Tony. “Alright Cap whatever floats your boat,” Tony laughs as he turns back to his work taking his seat and cranking the music up to ear deafening volumes. Living with someone for a year or so you learn a few things about them and Tony knew, if anything, how to convince Steve to abandon his stupid plan, being subjected to load rock ‘n’ roll would do the trick. But to Tony’s great dismay it doesn’t work.

 

Hours later and Steve is asleep on Tony’s couch in the corner and Tony deciding he needs more coffee. Waking up to small objects being thrown at him Steve sits up just as a pencil hit him on the head. With a grunt he narrows his eyes at Tony, “What did you do that for?” He asks annoyed.

“Are you done with your silly game yet?” Tony answers Steve’s question with one of his own.

Steve’s “No,” has Tony throw a pen at him in cheek, “Do you always have to be so immature?” Steve response.

“HA! I’m not the one following my friend around because he won’t tell me someone else’s secrets.”

A ball of paper hits Steve in the face and he grunts in annoyance as he lies back down on the couch.

“Steve. Steve, hey Steve! Steeeeeeeeve!”

Steve closes his eyes and ignores Tony’s irritating behaviour. It goes on for only a minute and then stops. Glad for the silence he settles back into the pillows of the couch. He hears Tony shuffling metal and paper but disregards it. When another crumpled up ball of paper hits him in the head and a “Steeve!” comes from Tony’s direction he sits up once again glaring at Tony. “Steve!” Tony says again.

“What?”

“I want coffee.”

“Then go get some and stop annoying me.”

“Get it for me,” Tony demands.

“No.”

“Steve” Tony pushes, “You insisted on intruding upon my space and then proceed to sleep on my couch. Your not even doing anything, the least you can do for your useless invasion is get me some coffee.”

“You’re a big boy Tony, I’m sure you can get it yourself,” Steve says as he once again makes himself comfortable on the couch crossing his arms over his chest to fit better and closing his eyes.

“AH! We are not friends anymore,” Tony responds as he wheels his chair over to the couch.

“Fine by me,” Steve retorts. Tony wheels right up to Steve as he lies on the couch and sits there sharing Steve’s space. Steve can feel Tony’s presents in his space; he can feel his breathing, hear his intake and exhale of air. It’s warm on Steve’s skin as his glides over him. Goosebumps rise along his skin, reaching from his neck and shoulders down to his fingers. He opens his eyes to the deep brown that are Tony’s and breathes in through parted lips, “Tony?” he asks trying to distance himself by cushioning his head further into the pillows of the couch.

Tony just holds his gaze a moment longer before he smirks pulling out a feather from nowhere and fluttering it in Steve’s face. It takes a moment for Steve to come out of the trance he had fallen into. Steve blinking sneezes as he reaches out to still Tony’s hand, who is laughing at his prank.

“Come on Steve grab me come coffee.”

“No Tony, I’m not your personal slave.”

“No, but you are my personal stalker.”

“I’m not stalk… Look I just want my sketches back, alright, is that too much to ask for?” Steve says dropping Tony’s hand.

“Yeah well I just want coffee, but it looks like we don’t always get what we want,” Tony retorts as he wheels away.

Steve wakes up at four the next morning realising as he opens his eyes that he is still in the lab. Tony is slumped over his desk, head cradled on his arms and snoring softly.

“Captain Rogers?” JARVIS sounds as if he is whispering.

“JARVIS?” Steve responds looking up at the ceiling.

“May I ask for your assistance?”

“Of course, what can I do?”

 

Five hours later Tony wakes up to JARVIS opening his bedroom blinds while providing him with the time, temperature, weather and his schedule for the day; he has a meeting at one with Pepper and then one at three with the board of Stark Industries.

“JARVIS” Tony interrupts as he sits up in bed and looks at his surroundings.

“Yes Sir?” JARVIS responds.

“How did I get here? I distinctly remember working in the lab, I wasn’t drinking, much, last night so I would defiantly remember coming to bed. What happened?”

“I had Captain Rogers carry you up here approximately five hours ago.”

“You… He what?” Tony almost shouts in irritation, then “Wait why?”

“I was concerned about your sleeping habits Sir, and when he noticed your poor posture this morning he was more than happy to help out.”

“Of course you were JARVIS. But I programed you to help me with work not mother me.”

“Sir my scans showed that you were putting strain on yourself in that position, and Captain Rogers assisted me in moving you into a better one. I suggested the couch; however the Captain was adamant that you needed a bed.” JARVIS says with what sounds like an exhausted sign tacked on the end. “Mr Stark” he continues, “I suggest you organize yourself, Miss Potts will arrive at any moment to begin your day.”

“Yeah yeah, alright,” Tony agrees as he moves out of bed and into the bathroom.

 

 


	6. I Have Had Enough!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony jokes, Coulson flips, and Steve loses his shirt.

It’s now been well over six months and Twister is now defiantly part of the Avengers weekly routine. Much to Tony’s dismay, which has however been to be dwindling over the last few months. He makes fewer complaints about how stupid the whole situation is and starts to enjoy himself more.

Bruce, knowing that he is capable of control and encouragements from the others, is more comfortable with getting further involved, so it’s to anyone’s surprise when he walks in almost as excited as Thor about this week’s game.

“Who’s ready to twist?” he asks as he all but bounces into the room.

“I certainly am Banner,” Thor booms as he hops from one foot to the other in anticipation.

Natasha goes down to retrieve Tony from his lab when Coulson enters the lounge handing the game over to Clint. Steve moves the furniture out of the way as Clint opens the box and pulls out the mat. Coulson and Thor head into the kitchen while they wait for Natasha to return with Tony, and when they re-enter the room they have jugs of water and glasses; Thor always states that twister makes him thirsty and so runs off to gather everyone a drink before the game.

“Guys”, Steve speaks looking confused as he spins around the room, “have any of you seen my sweet shirt?”

“Nah dude, where’d you last see it?” Clint asks.

“In here just a moment ago, it was on the couch just before we moved it.”

“You seemed to be losing your stuff a lot lately,” Bruce says from where he sits on one of the couches.

“I know, and I don’t know how. I mean it was right here.”

“Perhaps it is behind one of the couches,” Thor says, throwing a hand full of red sweets into his mouth and then continues to suggest, “We shall search for it after the game.”

“Thor, my friend,” Clint starts as he walks over to the God, “You weren’t thinking about sharing those with a fellow Avenger were you?”

Thor moves the bag of sweets away from Clint and glares at him, “Come on man,” Clint whines as he holds his hand out; Thor drops four lollies into the offered hand and then ties the bag up and puts it in his pocket. Clint smiles at the God and eats them all at once.

 

“Alright guys let’s do this,” Clint says id as he hands Bruce the dial, Bruce than palms it off to Coulson.

“Will you be joining in with the twisting this night Banner?” Thor asks.

“I certainly will be,” Bruce answers.

“This is great news to me,” Thor yells with a laugh as he smacks Bruce hard on the back.

“Everyone ready,” Coulson calls out, “Stark left hand blue.” Tony sighs dramatically and for show.

“Stark can we please do this without you complaining for once,” Coulson demands “Left hand blue.” He says again as Tony moves to the mat.

Half way through the game Clint is on his knees before it gets interesting while Natasha has Bruce locked under her as she stretches out above him. Thor manages to stay out of everyone’s way standing with both his feet and left hand on green dots. Tony just couldn’t hold in the jokes any longer as he’s practically straddling Steve’s right thigh with his feet on a yellow and blue dot. Steve is growing uncomfortable as he leans back with his hands on a blue and red dot behind him, feet on the yellow and red. Tony’s next turn has him leaning forward over Steve as Coulson calls for him to place his left hand on yellow now. Steve sees the smirk grow on Tony’s face as he pushs his body down against Steve’s and he just knows Tony was going to say something inappropriate.

“Oh Steve, are you just happy to see me, or is that a…”

Tony collapses onto Steve as a shock of electrical current has his body convulsing. Steve falls hard onto the mat with a groan and tries to hold on to Tony as he violently convulses. Once Tony’s shaking has significantly lessened Steve gently rolls them to their sides and places Tony on the mat. Then he turns to look at Coulson.

“What?” Coulson asks, “We all know where that comment was going.”

Groans come from Tony where he’s laying on the floor and Steve rolls back his way, “Ahhh, yep tazer, that was a tazer. Aahh, guy with, heart condition, here… ahhhh.”

“Are you okay Tony?” Steve asks as he checks on him. His face is grey and he’s breathing is heavy but he nods as he tries sitting up.

“What the fuck Coulson!” he swears as he bats Steve’s helpful hands away.

“Stark, we are all sick and tired of your sexual innuendos. Consider this a warning.”

“Ah, Fuck off,” Tony says as he stands on shaky legs and leaves the room steadying himself against the walls as he goes.

“Looks like the game is over” Clint says as Natasha and Bruce get to their feet.

“Can we not play another?” Thor asks a little disappointed.

“Not tonight Thor,” Coulson says as he gathers his things.

“Agent Coulson,” Steve calls after him, “I appreciate your intentions but that may have been a little extreme.”

“I understand that Captain, but frankly I am over all the sexual innuendos he comes out with and from the looks the others gave they are also.”

“Oh, I wasn’t aware he was still doing that, he told me that he would stop.”

“Yes, well unfortunately that’s just who he is. And most of them seem to go over your head, not to be rude of course but you still don’t understand many modern references. Anyway I have to get going now, paperwork to complete. Have a good night Captain.”

“Good night Agent,” Steve says as Coulson enters the elevator. Bruce and Thor are in the kitchen bickering about what to cook for dinner when he wonders in and he could make out Clint’s complaints about cleaning the lounge (again) as he sits at the table. Natasha walks in and announces that she has ordered pizza for dinner.

“I’m going to check on Tony, see if he’s hungry,” Steve says as he leaves the kitchen and heads down to Tony’s lab.

 

When Steve enters the lab Tony is already hard at work, music at inhuman levels. JARVIS knows to automatically turn it down when Steve is in the lab. As Steve sits on the couch Tony turns to see the reason his music is altered, to see Steve in his now usual spot.

“Look Steve if you’ve come down here to lecture me about appropriate behaviour alright, I’m not in the mood and I have a lot of work to do.”

“I’m not here to lecture you Tony, I’m here for the same reason I usually am.”

“Because you’re stalking me; so you’re finally admitting to it now,” Tony says with light humour. His face is still pale and his breathing still hasn’t evened out either but he looks lighter than when he left the lounge.

“I’m not stalking you Tony, you know why I’m here and it’s not creepy.”

“Not to you.”

“Shut up,” Steve says with a smile as he throws paper at Tony. Tony dodges it with a smile of his own and turns around to get back to work. They sit there and work in a comfortable silence listening to Tony’s music.

Within the last few months this has become routine, Steve in the lab annoying Tony almost every night; sometimes even falling asleep on the couch and waking up at three in the morning only to pull Tony from his work and force him to get some sleep. Unfortunately for Steve, Tony literally is an iron man and he doesn’t give in often. Maybe he likes having the company, knowing that if he is to look behind him there is someone there, knowing that he isn’t completely alone, even if most of the time Steve asks annoying little questions. Steve has started bring his sketches or paperwork down to work on and seems to annoy Tony less and less with his relentless inquisitions. ACDC plays at somewhat humanly normal levels when Steve is there as they sit in each other’s company doing what they love best. Or just work in general.

Soon both Steve and Tony forgot the reasons why Steve spends most of his nights in the lab, but it becomes something they both enjoy and even look forward to, though they wouldn’t admit to that.

 


	7. The fun is over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is bored with life but gets way more than he wishes for in a fight.

Despite the overabundance of twister, working and his hours hanging out with random Avengers in his lab, Tony soon finds himself over keen for a fight. Because evil apparently takes holidays, there hasn't been an invasion or bank robbery or purse snatching incident in so long that Tony has once again gotten bored with his businessman facade. It had almost been a good solid year since the last doom bot attack, and the Avengers thought maybe they'd finally rid the world of that nuisance.

However, one Sunday as Steve is about to leave for his morning run do they figure out they are wrong. Tony can barely contain his excitement as Coulson sweeps into the tower and hands a folder to Steve, who quickly glances over it and then turns to his fellow Avengers with an pleased smile.

"Avengers Assemble," He says.

Clint woops and jumps over furniture in his excitement to exit the room. Tony just barely contains his delight before speeding off to get in the suit.

\---

“Doom bots! Seriously, can’t evil create a new style? Make it more exciting for us at least.” Hawkeye complains over the communication line as he shoots an arrow at the bot chasing Captain America. It hits the bot right in the head going straight through before embedding itself in a second bot’s throat and then exploding.

“Wah whoo!! Two birds one stone. Or should I say two bots with one hell of an amazing exploding arrow,” Hawkeye coos from his vantage point on the rooftops.

“You’re welcome Bird Brain.” Iron man says on cue.

Hawkeye’s calling out patterns and strays to Iron Man, which seem to become his main focus now since the Chitari. Iron Man, works the perimeter, turning the bots back and containing the fighting in only a few streets where the others could take them out or he’d turn them to dust.

Thor is off world fighting frost giants or protecting light elves from dark elves or something of the sort, so he’s missing all the fun. However, Black Widow and Hulk make up for the lack of manpower and lightening.

They’re working as a team in perfect synchronicity, Hulk smashing those bots that come too close and moving on while Black Widow come along afterwards and pulls the wiring out so they can’t get back up, along with taking out bots that slipped through the Hulk’s fingers. They find that pulling the circuitry from the bots during the battle is better than trying to do it when the battle is over because the little fuckers have a tendency to get back up, damaged or not, and continue fighting. Although pulling the wires from the bots during the battle is difficult and time consuming, in the end it cuts the fighting time down to almost half. But Black Widow and Hulk have a perfect routine going as they fight.

Captain America, as the people’s hero, is the one leading the civilians out of harm’s way and into safety, taking out bots here and there as necessary. The fight isn’t too difficult at all, the bots exactly the same as they always have been, a year not doing much to change them at all. So it’s easy for the Captain to disengage them while saving the public.

Iron Man takes to the skies to do a sweep of the streets that the doom bots have attacked. Most of the streets have been cleared of dead bot bodies by the SHIELD clean-up crews and the fighting is now concentrated in one street only. Hulk and Black Widow dance through the fight, while Hawkeye is above on the rooftops taking out the strays that they miss. Iron Man kepes them within the perimeter of the street, Cap all but missing.

“Has anyone see Cap?” Widow asks through the comm line as she rips the innards from another bot.

“He was on 6th last I saw him, saving children from a school bus over run by bots,” Hawkeye explains as he actively starts looking for their Captain, “Iron Man?”

“I’m looking. JARVIS do you have tabs?”

_“I lost the Captain’s signal when he ran into the library Sir. I haven’t been able to pick it back up.”_

“Shit! Do you know what’s blocking the signal?”

“What’s happening Iron Man?” Black Widow asks only hearing one side of the conversation.

“ _Not yet. I am still going through the data I have collected.”_

“Make it fast.”

“Iron Man?” Widow calls again through the line.

An explosion interrupts them then, rocking the streets. They all turn in the direction it had come from, Iron Man, noticing that the windows in the area have shattered and smoke is raising out of the library, swearing repeatedly.

“I’m going in,” Iron Man yells over the open line as he flights straight for the building.

“Tony?” This time it’s Hawkeye who calls to him but he doesn’t answer, only cuts power to his boots and flight stabilizers in his palms dropping to the roof and then through it. He falls through the three-story building until he lands in the rubble on the ground.

_“Sir, it would seem that this is the epee centre of the blast.”_

“Well you’re not wrong JARVIS. Have your scans picked up Steve’s signal yet?”

“ _My scans are showing a few vital signs Sir, none of which are Captain Rogers.”_

“Fuck! Keep scanning. Find him!”

 _“Of course Sir.”_ JARVIS says as another chorus of questions come from the team at Iron Mans curses. He ignores all other voices in his ears, turning off his comm so he can search without distractions.

He checks out the other vital signs that JARVIS’ scans have detected. Two people are buried under rubble not too far from where he lands. They are still alive. He calls for backup and medical and the rest of the team arrive shortly after helping with the search efforts. Every few minutes they find another survivor, but still nothing of Captain America.

SHIELD agents were seemingly everywhere the next minute, sweeping the library and pulling out survivors and unfortunately a few dead. The more agents that enter the library the more irritated Tony becomes with them. People are in his way, messing with his search, slowing him down. He can’t help but yell at a few of them as they try to pull him from the rubble or help in anyway.

He is furious with them, furious with himself, with Steve. But most of all he is scared. And his fear overrides everything else as he pours all his effort and strength into finding Steve.

“JARVIS, how are those scans coming?” Tony demands as he keeps up the search for Steve.

“ _There is an increasing amount of life signs popping up as the screech continues Sir; however Captain Rogers still seems to be missing.”_

“Tony,” he hears Bruce call. Tony turns around to look up from where he is digging out an elderly man with a broken leg. Bruce has de-hulked and is dressed in a SHIELD issue sweats. They have dirt stains on them so Bruce must have been helping with the search for a while. How long has it been if the whole team is here with the SHIELD agents?

“Tony, you need a break. Com…”

“No! We have to find Steve!” Tony spits, turning back to man with the broken leg and pulling him a little too roughly out of the ruined library.

Bruce calls an agent over to take Tony's position and tries leading the genius from the destroyed building. It proves a difficult task with Tony fighting every step, and using his armour to slow Bruce down. After bickering and screaming between the two, the men finally make it outside where Bruce shoves a cup of coffee into Tony's metal hands.

“Tony you need a break,” Bruce suggests sitting next to him. Paramedics have come by to check Tony out but he absentmindedly waves them off.

“No, I need to find Steve,” Tony interjects as he stands. He hasn’t yet taken a sip of coffee and to Bruce he looks dead on his feet, staring straight ahead at the remains of what use to be the library.

“No Tony, you’re just getting in everyone’s way in there. You need to stop and let them do their jobs. They’ll find Steve okay, he’ll be fine.”

“I can’t just sit around and do nothing when he could be in there somewhere injured or suffocating or already…” He cuts himself off then unable to finish his sentence, but Bruce knows what comes next.

“Tony, SHIELD is all over this, they’ll find him, he’s their best agent after all and they have JARVIS helping scan the area.”

“JARVIS?” Tony asks confused looking up at Bruce for the first time since he pulled him from the wreckage.

“Yeah about an hour and a half ago he hacked his way into the SHIELD computers. Fury wasn’t very happy to begin with but I think he see that JARVIS has been a lot of help so far. Without his scans we wouldn’t have been able to find so many survivors.”

“But still no Steve.”

“They are all doing their best Tony.”

“It’s not good enough,” Tony says through clenched teeth, standing and making his way back into the rubble.

Tony is in the middle of the building resuming his search when the armour locks down and he can no longer move.

“JARVIS what’s happening?”

“ _I have taken it upon myself to lock the armour down Sir.”_

“Why? Unlock it, now!”

_“I am afraid I cannot do that Sir. You only have ten-precent power left; you have being doing this for almost five hours. Your body is beginning to feel the strain.”_

“JARVIS I don’t have time to argue with you. Unlock the armour, now. I need to find Steve.”

“ _Sir_ , m _y calculations suggest that the armour will lose power before you find Captain Rogers. You need to rest.”_

“JARVIS, unlock this suit now!” JARVIS then disconnects from the armour.

“JARVIS!” Tony then shouts. His calls all go unanswered for a few minutes before Fury is talking to him through the suits comm link.

“Stark, you’re being transported back to the tower, where you will stay off active duty. JARVIS has assured me that all your suits have been locked down. Gets some rest while you’re there.” With that Fury disconnects from the comms to the sounds of Tony’s protests.

Inside the suit everything goes black.


	8. Waking up to… Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's angry, Steve is thankful and Clint got his hands on a feather.

When Tony wakes up, he finds himself on a familiar comfortable flat surface that his mind helpful tells him is his bed. For a moment he's tempted to go back to sleep, but something tells him he needs to find something important...and find out what the hell is running up and down his face impatiently, tickling his nose like no other.

"What the fuck!" Tony swears as he sits up, just missing a smirking Clint who ducks under Tony's swiping motions. "Why are you tickling me with a feather... my feather!"

"Mine now," Clint shrugs, continuing to shove the feather at Tony's face until the genius is able to grab it off him and crush it in his palm. “Heyyy, I wanted that!”

"My tower, my feathers," Tony tells him, then looks around, "How did I get back to the tower?"

"You passed out. After JARVIS locked down the suit you couldn't do anything, so your brain sorta just shut down and you passed out."

" _Extreme exhaustion will do that to you sir_ ," JARVIS politely cuts in from the ceiling, and Tony huffs in annoyance.

"Well I'm not exhausted now," though he did feel like he could use a few more hours sleep. Later. "I need to get ready."

“For what? Pepper cancelled all your meetings for the next few days and is talking care of all the rest; clean-up is almost don…”

“What the f…” Tony tries to cut him off but stops when there’s a knock at the door.

Clint jumps up to open it as Tony makes his way to his closet to get dressed. “Looks like you have a visitor. You’re searching is done," Clint said bowing before disappearing through the door.

Tony barely notices him go.

 

Steve stands in Tony’s doorway, looking nervous and fidgeting with his hands.

"You're okay. I umm, I heard you almost died looking for me,” Steve says in a voice that seems to fit with his fidgeting.

Tony stares at him for a few seconds in disbelief, clenching and unclenching his hands before his expression changes. He walks slowly over to where Steve stands and with only a few centimetres between them Tony punches Steve hard in the face.

“AH, FUCK!” he yells, reeling back and cradling his now injured hand to his chest.

“Tony, are you okay?” Steve asks as he reaches out to him, Tony batters the soldier’s helpful hands away.

“Fuck no! I think your face broke my hand,” He says as he looks up and sees a bruise already purpling over Steve’s left eye.

“Probably not the best idea, huh,” Steve muses, “punching the super solider I mean.”

“Nah, you think,” Tony sarcastically answers.

“Here let me look at it,” Steve says as he reaches out again to help Tony.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Tony.”

“I said no, jeez Steve, lay off.”

“Okay, alright.” Steve holds up his hands in surrender.

“What are you doing in my room anyway?”

“I just wanted come see how you were doing. The team told me that you spent five hours digging through the remains of the library trying to find me. JARVIS said that he had to lock down the suit so you wouldn’t run out of power. Everyone was a little worried about you from what I heard.”

“It wasn’t five hours; it was more like ten minutes really.”

“ _Excuse my interruption_ ,” JARVIS cuts in again, “ _But it was coming up to the sixth hour when I cut all power to the suit_.”

“That’s bullshit, it wasn’t that long.”

“ _Mr Stark_ …”

“I don’t want to hear it JARVIS and it wasn’t that long.”

“Tony you’ve been unconscious for thirteen hours, six of them while I was still missing. So yeah I’m inclined to believe that. And I’ve seen the suit, that amount of damaged didn’t occur during the fight, you weren’t even hit by any bots, you were in the air the whole time. So, you obviously spent an extended amount of time digging through rubble.”

“Thirteen hours, that can’t be…” He cut himself off, “What’s your point here Rogers?”

“Why would you…Thank-you, I suppose, for saving me.”

“Yeah but that’s the thing, I didn’t.”

“No, but you tried and you did save most of the civilians, it’s on record.”

“Don’t, Steve. Don’t do that. I failed, I couldn’t find save you and you could have died...”

“Tony, you could’ve died trying to…”

“No Steve, please just… just leave.” Tony says gesturing toward the door as he turns and locks himself in the bathroom. He stands, back against the door listening for Steve, but it’s a few minutes longer before he hears his bedroom door close softly.

 

When Tony walks into his lab later on Steve is there in his spot on the couch, sketchpad balanced on his knees and pencil in his hand. Tony walks right passed him, sits at his desk and has JARVIS bring up the latest blueprints for repairs on the mark VII. They work in silence, not uttering a word to each other until hours later when Steve stands up.

“I’m getting some food. Would you like anything?” Steve asks him, walking towards the elevator.

“No thanks, actually, just a cup of coffee will do,” Tony answers curtly.

“Sure,” Steve says, hopping into the elevator.

When Steve returns he has a plate of sandwiches and a cup of coffee with him. He places both down in front of Tony as he works. Tony takes the coffee drinking half the cup while actively ignoring the plate in front of him.

“Tony you need to eat,” Steve says watching the genius at work.

“I’m not hungry.”

Tony had spent how long and how much of his energy trying to find Steve when he thought that he could be dead or dying. Steve recalled everyone telling him how manic Tony had acted during those hours that he was ‘missing’. How he threw himself into the search and didn’t stop for anything or anyone until JARVIS locked down the armour and Fury had him transported back to the tower. How much strain JARVIS had said he put on his body and on his heart while looking for Steve. Steve knew that Tony hadn’t eaten in a while and thought that this might be the perfect time to try something.

“You haven’t eaten anything for over twenty four hours Tony, you need to eat something.”

Tony turns to face Steve then, looking up at him from his seat, “Steve, I don’t want to eat okay.”

Steve narrows his eyes, the creases between his brows appearing, “Please Tony, just one sandwich, for me.”

Tony searches Steve’s face with narrow eyes of his own, staring at him for a second longer than was really necessary before sighing and picking up a sandwich.

“Fine,” He says as he lifts it to his mouth and takes a bit. His stomach grumbles as he eats and he hopes to hell that Steve doesn’t hear it, but from the look on his face he does.

Steve’s smiling slightly as he watches Tony eat another half of the sandwiches in front of him. When he is content with that he moves back to the couch and continues his sketching.

“Did you end up finding your sweat shirt?” Tony asks without looking around.

“Pardon?” Steve answers.

“The sweat shirt that you lost the last time we play Twister,” Tony turns then to face Steve, “Did you find it?”

“Oh umm, no I haven’t found it. Why’s that?”

“I was just wondering that’s all.”

“Oh okay. You don’t have it by any chance do you?” Steve asks.

“Me? Nope sorry,” Tony says as he turns back to his work.

“Do you know who does?”

“Nope.”

“Tony…”

“I don’t know a thing.”

“Alright.”

They are silent for few minutes, Steve sketching while Tony fiddles with his work and another sandwich disappears from the plate. Tony swivels in his chair and rolls across the lab closer to the couch Steve is on.

“Look,” He starts as he leaned forward, elbows on knees, “you… You’re my best friend, okay. Rhodey yeah, but he is always off in some random country doing god knows what and we don’t see each other as much as we use to, you know. And you and I get along well enough, most of the time. I was… When that building exploded it was… I don’t know, I couldn’t think of anything else but finding you… and finding you alive, and it got…”

Tony cuts himself off with a less than dignified sign, what he wanted to say just wasn’t coming out the way he wanted it to. Actually he doesn’t really know what it is he wants to say. He was angry at Steve for being in that building when it exploded; angry at himself for failing to find him; angry at everyone for trying to help but ending up getting in his way; and angry at Doom for creating suicide boomer robots. But he couldn’t ignore the way he felt when he saw Steve standing in his doorway alive and safe, and not harmed at all.

“When I saw you after I woke up and you were fine…I was happy. And then I got so angry at everything. I was angry with you, for making me feel like I’d failed you. And I know it’s not your fault, you didn’t build suicide bomber robots, but when I thought you were dead… I just didn’t… and then you were fine, you _are_ fine and…”

“And it’s fine, it’s all fine,” Steve smiles, interrupting Tony, “I’m fine, you’re fine and everything is okay. I plan to be more careful next time.”

“Yeah well you better! I have a heart condition; I shouldn’t being going around being scared half to death.”

“You were scared to death over me?” Steve asks. Tony looks worn out, like he hasn’t slept in days even though he’d had more sleep in the past day than he has in the past week.

“Yeah. Look, all this emotional stuff has just…”

Steve leans into Tony’s space as he speaks gently, “Tony, I’m Captain America remember, it’ll take more than a bomb to kill me.” He’s staring at Tony willing him to believe he knows this about himself. Because the truth of it is, Steve has survived a lot worse than a little bot bomb. He smiles as he watches all the little details of Tony’s face and Tony is staring back as his expression turns from angry doubt to accepting reservation.

Then all of a sudden the air becomes electrified with something that Tony doesn’t understand. Steve is there alive and well and sitting not even an inch from Tony. He can feel Steve’s every breath on his skin and it warms his whole body, settling into his bones.

He moves before his brain can catch up, and before either of them realise what is happening warm lips are pressing on warm lips and hands are snaking around necks and touching faces and grabbing on to any part of each other in a reassuring way that the other is alive and here.

Then they pull apart for air. “Shit,” Tony breathes, the reality of what just happened kicking in. He tries to move away from Steve, but Steve just wheels him closer.

“Steve,” Tony says as he tries moving back again. Then Steve’s arms lock tight around Tony’s waist keeping him close as he leans in to kiss Tony again.

“Steve…” He whispers, but Steve just leans in and presses his lips softly to Tony’s. It’s a small lazy kiss that deepens just a little as Tony relaxes. One of Steve’s hands moves to the back of Tony’s neck and his fingers run through the surprisingly soft hair there. Tony places a hand over Steve’s heart and he can feel it beating. They didn’t move for what seems like hours to them both, not letting go but holding each other tighter.

“ _Sir_?” JARVIS says, somewhere in the distanced, so far away from Tony and Steve’s moment that they ignore him.

This time when they separated neither of them say a word; they just sits up straight in their chairs.

“ _Sir, Miss Potts is here to see you_ ,” JARVIS tries again. Not too long afterwards does the elevator ding, followed by Pepper Potts stepping out of it.

“Tony,” Pepper says as she scans the lab for him. Her echo is her the only response as she walks a few more steps into the lab.

“Yeah Pep?” comes Tony’s voice, and Pepper turns to see Tony sitting in a wheelie chair in from of Steve on the couch.

“What’s going on?” She starts as she tries to read the situation, “Is something wrong.” Tony looks a little unfocused and Steve is wearing a strange small smile.

“No, nothings wrong. Why would you think that Pep,” Tony asks.

“I’ve just never seen Captain Rogers down here before.”

“Really?” Tony asks, looking from Pepper to Steve, “He’s here all the time, stalking me, trying to get me to reveal all my secrets.”

“I am not…” Steve starts to protest until he notices Tony laughing and realises he is joking. Steve snorts and then says, “I’ll just leave you both to your business. I’ll see you later, Tony,” He smiles as he walks towards the elevator.

“Yeah, sure,” Tony responds, taking a few steps in the same direction.

Steve steps into the elevator and pushes the button, their eyes connecting one last time before the elevator doors closed.

When Tony turns back to Pepper he blinks away the remains of distraction from before and Pepper looks at him with narrowed eyes. But before she can make a comment or accuse him of something Tony says, “So Pepper, what’s can I do for you,” beginning their business.


	9. I Think it Shows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is happy to play Twister, Thor needs to slow down with the lollies and Clint is just Clint. Poor boy.

“Dude,” Clint says looking up from where he’s placing the Twister mat on the ground, “Did you ever find your sketches?”

“No I didn’t. I had forgotten all about them to be honest,” Steve replies.

“Well what did Tony say when you asked him about JARVIS not being permitted to tell you?” Bruce asks curiously.

“Tony didn’t tell me anything either. Actually now that I think about it, it does seem kind of suspicious,” Steve considers.

“Do you suppose the Man of Iron is slyly taking your possessions, Captain?” Thor asks as he stand in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Well I know that he knows where my stuff has gone, he just won’t tell me.”

“Yes very strange indeed. He is a strong man; he won’t give up his secrets so willingly,” Thor states as he walks back into the kitchen to loudly greet Coulson.

“Why don’t you just beat it out of him?” Clint suggests then.

“I’m not beating up Tony, Clint.”

“Why? If he is the one taking your stuff and not giving it back, he deserves it.”

“Clint no one deserves to be attacked. And I could do some real damage if I tried.”

“Whatever dude,” Clint says as he turns away.

At that moment Tony walks into the room, without Natasha having had to fetch him from his lab.

“Who’s ready for some twister?” Tony asks rubbing his hands together.

“Man of Iron,” Thor says from the door to the kitchen, fist full of red lollies, “You seem most eager to partake in team bonding this week.”

“Yes well what can I say?” Tony replies sitting on the couch and casting a quick glance at Steve, “No, really what can I say?” he continues with a smile. “Oh hey Thor where are our drinks?” He asks looking at the god and then at Coulson, his smile turning into a smirk.

“They are in the kitchen. I will retrieve them and then we can begin the twisting.”

 

An hour later Coulson stands at the head of the mat, dial in his hands directing movements. This is their second game of the night and oddly enough it was Tony who had suggested they play again after Clint fell into him and the both of them tumbled to the floor.

Natasha and Bruce are twisted together in the middle of the mat, arms and legs tangled across all four colours. They are taking up a whole lot of space which has Clint and Steve locking arms on the green and yellow dots on one side and Tony and Thor on the other with tangled legs of their own.

Every few seconds has Tony reaching to squeeze the Gods biceps, commenting on them and then letting go only repeating the action a moments later.

“Really Thor,” the genius says squeezing one of Thor’s arms, “how do you even get muscles like these? They’re huge.”

Thor chucks as Tony’s touches tickle. Thor is so amused with how trivial it all seemed to him.

“My friend,” He begins, “On Asgard we have, gyms as you call them here on Midgard, but they are different back home. When we train, we train our bodies under dense gravity so as to make us stronger than if we were to train regularly. It was and still is what makes Asgardian warriors mighty strong.”

“Hmmm, I want one,” Tony decides.

“I don’t know if you can have one Tony,” Steve says from the other side of the mat, where he’s struggling to keep himself and Clint from falling.

“You’re not Pepper Steve! You can’t tell me what I can and cannot have. Now I want this gravity gym Thor was on about, and by god soldier I am going to get it.”

And in true flailing fashion Clint waves his hands in the air and kicked his legs at the ground as he tumbles to the floor taking Steve with him.

Clint is a great marksman and sometimes a really good ninja when he wants to be; and he is an amazingly fantastic shot with any weapon, yet a bow is best. But he is absolutely embarrassingly terrible at playing Twister and if you are unfortunate enough to be near him in any game than you will no doubt fall to your knees and loss it.

Steve pushes Clint off of him and stands, “That’s not what I mean Tony,” He chuckles.

“Oh, well then what was your point?” Tony asks.

“That we can’t manipulate gravity like the Asgarians can; therefore it may possibly be near impossible to have a ‘gravity gym’.”

“Oh Steve, sweet poor innocent little Steve, who do you think you are talking to?” Tony laughs and flops to the floor.

“Oh, my sincerest apologies your great eminent genius, I thought I was talking with Tony Stark, a mere human not a god.”

“Hey, I resent that. I’m major godly.”

Steve snorts as he sits on the couch to catch the rest of the game. Tony moves across the room to sit next Steve on the couch, maybe a little too close for friends but no one seems to notice.

Clint stands right up behind Coulson trying to put him off and picking at every turn of the dial he makes; Coulson bats Clint’s hands away.

Thor stands alone now that Tony was gone and wins the game when Bruce tries moving his leg out from under Natasha, but instead ends up dropping to the floor and hitting her accidently bringing her down too.

It’s the first time he has won so Thor celebrates by sharing his red sweets with them all.

“Seriously Thor, where are you getting these from?” Clint asks as he lobs two in his mouth.

“I have my suppliers Clinton, you need not worry,” The god had replies.

“Oh gosh Thor it’s not illegal is it?” Steve speaks up. He has been amused by Thor’s constant supply of sweets; sure he was curious of where he gets them from but not enough to go snooping as Clint had probably done. He hasn’t heard anything about it so he assumes that Clint hasn’t found anything or he hasn’t actually bothered to look.

Steve is sure that the supermarkets sell those lollies anyway.

“Alright, this was fun but back to the real world now. Some of us have work to complete,” Tony says as he retreats back down to his lab.

“So, Steve what’s been happening lately?” Clint starts prying.

“What do you mean, Clint?”

“Well you and Stark have been acting strange the past couple weeks. What’s up with that?”

“What… We haven’t been strange, what are you talking about?” Steve asks slightly puzzled.

“He’s stop with the sexual innuendos towards everyone,” Natasha says.

“The Man of Iron does seem to be enjoying our twisting time more recently,” Thor offers.

“And he seems oddly happy. Its weird,” Clint adds.

“I don’t know. It’s nothing. I haven’t even noticed,” Steve stumbles over himself.

“HA! Good try Captain America, you’re not that oblivious. Tell him to stop cause his smile is freaking me out,” Clint says.

“Sure thing Clint, because I’m his mother now and can tell him what to do.”

“Well someone needs to find out what’s going on because I’m having nightmares about it.”

Natasha just snorts and shakes her head in amusement at Clint and his own obliviousness.

 


	10. Seriously –Thor may have a slight obsession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony tells Steve something funny, Natasha is in the know, Thor needs some help and Clint is oblivious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a long time coming. Over 4 years to be exact. I'm sorry I've been slack, life is a cruel mistress and got in my way and made me live it for a while.

Things continue like this for the weeks afterwards. Twister, still a weekly activity with nothing but enthusiasm from everyone involved; including Tony and without any of his unwanted comments. No high level evil villains try for world domination and there are only a few small problems that the team easily take care of.

Despite his name, Fury has never been happier.

“Good job on not fucking up the team,” Coulson reads from his Stark tablet as he enters the kitchen one afternoon before they begin Twister.

“Excuse me, what?” Clint asks as he turns in his set at the table to glare at Coulson.

Coulson turns the tablet around to show the email he’d just received from Fury. Clint squints in its direction and nods muttering something about rude bosses under his breath and turns away again. Coulson just deposits a black bag down on the floor, pours himself a cup of coffee and sits down with a harsh sigh.

“Why are you all huffy?” Clint asks, still looking slightly disgruntled.

“Long day Agent Coulson?” Bruce asks, folding down the newspaper he’s reading to look at the Agent.

“You could say that,” Coulson says and takes a large sip of his coffee.

Natasha sits down next to Bruce as he flaps the paper back up and she starts reading over his shoulder. Steve walks in then with a content smile on his face as he greets everyone a lovely afternoon.

“You look very relaxed today Captain. Sleeping better,” Natasha asks with a small smile and beside her Bruce peeks over his paper again.

“Yes, very much so,” Steve answers while grabbing his own mug of coffee.

“I bet,” comes from behind the paper followed by a snort.

Clint turns to Coulson ignoring the others, “Well are you gonna to tell us what happened or do we have to guess?” he asks.

“It’s nothing you need to worry yourself over Barton.”

“Well when you come into my house all angsty and miserable, I think it is.”

“Clint, this isn’t your house,” Natasha chides.

“Whatever. I’m going to set up the Twister mat,” Clint says as he grabs the Twister box and stomps out of the kitchen.

“What’s wrong with him today?” Coulson asks as he stares after Clint.

“He’s having a tantrum because he found out that Tony rigged that X-box Archery game he likes and that’s why he always loses,” Steve explains as he sips his coffee.

 _“Excuse me Captain, but Mr Stark would like to talk to you about the defence weaponry he wants to add to your uniform,”_ JARVIS says from everywhere.

“Tell him I said no JARVIS, I don’t need any weapons integrated into my uniform. If he keeps this up I may as well just wear the Iron Man armour.”

_“Captain, he has informed me that he will get Miss Romanov to escort you down to the lab with Agent Coulson’s tazer if you do not oblige. And he asks that you bring a cup of coffee with you.”_

“Okay fine,” Steve sighs, “tell him I’m on my way,” Before he leaves he refills his mug and makes his way down to the lab.

“So what happened today then?” Bruce asks Coulson.

“Fury wants me to start the bonding exercisers with the new team.”

“The new team?” Bruce queries.

“Yeah, The Young Avengers. They are a group of super powered young people, not unlike yourselves, and Fury wants to start training them,” Coulson says draining his coffee and pouring more.

“And that’s a problem,” Natasha says, not quite asking.

“Not as such, I’m just not sure they’re old enough.”

“Is Fury planning on sending them out on missions?” Bruce asks.

“Oh god no! He just wants them to bond for the next year or so while they train.”

“Well that doesn’t sound so bad,” Bruce says and looks up at Natasha for her opinion because he knows that out of everyone her opinion on something like this matters a great deal.

“Depends on how they are trained,” she says dryly looking dead at Coulson.

“It’s nothing like how you were trained in the Red Room Natasha. It’s about helping them learn to control their abilities with a little self-defence thrown in. Actually I suggested, Natasha, that you would be a great mentor for them.”

“I’ll speak with Fury about this,” she says as she walks away. Bruce turns back to Coulson after she leaves.

“You don’t want to be a part of their training?” He asks.

“It’s not that, it just means that I’ll be reassigned, again,” Coulson says somewhat visibly bothered by that.

“And you don’t want Clint to know,” Bruce realises.

“No. Not yet, anyway.”

“Why?”

“He’ll want to follow and I can’t have that. He needs to be here, with his team.” Bruce nods his understanding.

 

 

Tony hears the doors to the lab open, and when he goes to sit up he promptly smacks his head on the underside of the table he'd been under and nearly knocks himself out.

"Tony! Are you okay?" A worried voice asks, and Tony finds himself hauled to his feet and pressed into Steve’s very broad and very nice chest. When Tony looks up to meet Steve’s eyes Steve looks back at him with a concerned expression.

"I'm fine," Tony says, pressing one hand to his head and the other against Steve's chest to help stand himself up right but instead just leaves it there because wow, "Of course I’m fine, genius remember, I can handle a few bumps to the head without losing anything important."

Steve raises an eyebrow, but a fond smile also starts to form and Tony counts that as a win.

"Uh, anyway, hi," Tony says.

"Hi," Steve replies with a smile. There's that electricity running around them again, and Steve is surprised when Tony tilts his head slightly for a soft kiss that quickly turns deeper. Tony takes Steve’s face in his hands so he can guide Steve where he wants him. Steve yields control and tightens his arms around Tony pulling him closer. Steve is lost in Tony’s presence and this kiss that definitely doesn’t leave him feeling like a love-struck teenager.

When time starts up again, Steve slowly pulls himself away from Tony and tries to take a deep breath to clear his head. He rubs the back of his head shyly; face flushed a nice shade of pink.

Tony wants to have JARVIS take pictures of Steve's blushing face from every angle, and have Steve as all of his screen savers and backgrounds, but he also wants to find all the ways to make the blush deepen or stay there permanently for an hour or two. But he doesn’t and instead takes a step back and leans against the desk that has most likely given him a bruise and wills those thoughts away.

"Well...that was something, wasn't it?" Steve says with a type of awe that makes Tony all warm and happy inside. Steve takes a step forward towards Tony and continues, "I thought you wanted to talk business but this is much better."

"It is," Tony says and then shakes his head, "But um I did actually wanna talk to you about something. Hence why I sent that message earlier.”

"Oh, right. Tony," Steve says all business like, "I don’t need any more weaponry in my uniform."

"Well, yeah I know that but that’s actually not why I had you come down here.”

Steve’s brow crease in confusion, “Oh, JARVIS said you wanted to talk to me about the weapons thing again.”

“Yeah as awesome as it would be to add jet boots to your uniform, I know that’s not what you want, and umm what I have to tell you, you might actually be mad."

"I might be mad? At what Tony?"

"Well it's kinda a thing I've been lying about and I know you don't like…"

"You've been lying to me?"

"…Liars and you know I tried to tell you, but I was under threat of enormous proportions, you know, for someone with a heart condition and all and…"

"You've been lying because someone is going to hurt you??"

"…I think in the grand scheme of things you'll just laugh and think it's not that big of a thing cause it was only a little lie really, and I mean it's actually pretty funny when you think about it really and…"

"TONY!" Steve says loudly, "Just tell me what's going on!"

Tony startles a little at how loud Steve is, and then takes a deep breath.

"I know who’s been stealing your art and things," He says.

“I know you do. Is this about that enormous threat to your life?" Steve asks and Tony nods. "What kind of enormous threat?"

"The one involving...uh...tazers."

"...Wait, Coulson's been stealing my stuff?" Steve asks slightly taken aback. Tony shakes his head.

“Then, who..?”

"It’s Thor. Thor’s been stealing your stuff, to give to Coulson so that he'll supply him with those red lolly things he likes," Tony explains.

"What? That’s just ridiculous? He could just as easily go buy them himself from the store, and without stealing my things," Steve says irritably and a little confused.

"Have you seen Thor in a supermarket? He's like a bull in a china shop, it never ends well.” That doesn’t make Steve any less annoyed at the situation and Tony finds himself, along with wanting to make this right, wanting Steve happy. “Hey, where’s my coffee?" He says to break the tension. It does seem to work slightly when amusement plays across Steve’s face.

 

 

"So are we going to bet on what’s going on between the Steve and Stark?" Clint asks, coming back into the kitchen and jumping up to sit on one of the benches.

Bruce pauses, folds his newspaper up and places it on the table, "Bet? Why do we need to bet?" Bruce asks. Clint makes a disappointed face.

"So I can win and take all your things obviously," Clint says, "And to bond! These nights have all been about team bonding. Now we should bond by gossiping about our mighty leader and resident tech nerd."

"This is a usual bonding tactic used on Midgard?" Thor asks from the doorway, fist full of red candy.

“No,” Natasha says as she walks back in in a lighter mood and cuffs Clint on the back of his hand, “Don’t teach Thor your bad habits.”

“He already has bad habits,” Coulson says as he turns to look at a guilty Thor.

"Whatever,” Clint chimes back in, “Gossip is a bonding exercise on Earth, and don't any of you tell him otherwise," Clint says with a challenging look at Bruce and Natasha, who both roll their eyes at the archer’s tactics. "Now, bets?"

"Perhaps Tony is attempting to help the Captain find his missing possessions, though he will have no such luck." Thor’s suggestion gains a funny look from Bruce but before he can ask what Thor means, Coulson sits up straighter in his chair and gives a pointed glare to Thor and then Clint.

"Nothing is going on, and this activity is pointless Barton," Coulson says, slapping Clint on the back of his head and moving to the coffee machine and placing his favourite Captain America mug underneath to capture more of the chocolate brown liquid again.

"Why is everyone I love hitting me,” Clint asks. A mischievous grin growing on his face as he the suggests, “Could you bet your mug on that, Coulson?"

Coulson makes an offended face but nods all the same.

"Alright! So Thor bets Tony is helping Steve find his stuff, Coulson is obviously blind and thinks nothing is happening, and Bruce…"

"Is not getting involved," Bruce cuts in, folding up the newspaper.

"Ahhh you're no fun," Clint frowns.

"Considering I don't count this as fun, I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well I bet Steve is actually a Doom-bot and Tony is teaching him to be a really bad comedian.”

“That’s not seriously what your beating on is it?” Coulson asks.

“Why would Tony want a Doom-bot Steve to be a bad comedian, Clint?” Bruce asks.

“Because Phil has screwed up Tony’s brain so much with the amount of tazering he’s done.”

“And what will you bet for that Clint?” Natasha asks, a small smirk playing across her face.

“I’ll bet the location of my super-secret nest," Clint says triumphantly.

“Wow you must be serious,” Coulson says.

"Do you mean the one in Central Park?" Bruce asks then, "The one with the purple target painted into the bark,"

"Wait that’s the one we just gave a go ahead to let local superhero tours add it onto their itinerary," Coulson confirms with a smirk.

"You did what?!" Coulson and Bruce laugh at Clint’s face of horror.

“Since we’re betting with Clint’s not so secrete-secrete hideouts instead of money, I bet the one in central station,” Natasha pipes in.

“What? No, you can’t! Money! We’ll bet with money. Fifty bucks!”

“You do realise that when you lose Clint you will owe us all a fifty,” Bruce says.

“And you realise that when I win, you'll all owe me fifty.”

“Deal,” Natasha says as she reaches across the table to shake Clint’s hand, “But you’re not seriously going to bet that’s Steve is a Doom-bot are you?”

“Come on Nat, Steve is always in the lab now ever since that Doom-bot attack where he was missing for hours only to turn up uninjured,” Clint says with an exaggerated tone, “So really he’s down there recharging his robot batteries.”

"He's charging a battery alright,” Natasha laughs.

Bruce sighs, his mug of tea half to his lips, and sets it down on the bench with a clank, “Why would you say that Nat? I’ve been trying really hard not to think about it. They better not go near my side of the lab.”

Clint looks between the two of them confused but continues. "Okay, sooo," he says, turning to Natasha and ignoring Bruce, "What do you beat then?"

Natasha gives him a look from the corner of her eye, "They've realised their sexual attraction towards each other and have finally act upon their feelings," She says simply.

The kitchen drops into sudden silence, all but Bruce’s sigh of resignation.

Clint busts into a fit of laughter, "you're kidding, right? You're usually so good at winning bets."

"Exactly," Natasha says, pushing off from the bench and leaving the kitchen again. Everyone watches her go in stunned silence.

“No way they actually getting it on,” Clint laughs again “Right guys?”

Coulson gives Clint a sad look as he passes him on the way to the lounge. Bruce drains his mug and follows Coulson to the lounge in silence.

Clint stares after them mouth agape, “guys?”

Thor looks towards the doorway along with Clint after that disordered conversation before he says, “Come Clinton,” he says patting the archer on the back as he passes him to the lounge as well, “It is time to twist.”


End file.
